Sick
by Peanut16
Summary: Ranger's worried about Steph when she cancels on a destraction job, and then gets told lies about where she was. Ranger finds out thatshe's sick with Mono and the Flu. Babe story, Ranger's POV. T for language.


**Rating R-**Because it's the one I chose, it's always better to be safe...although it'd be more like a T...

**Disclaimer**-The characters are not mine, and I'm not making any money.

_Ranger's POV_

Have you ever had that feeling that somethings not right? Like, i someone calls to say something...and it's just the way they say it, the tone of their voice, or if they stutter or something. It just twinges in your gut. Sometimes refered to as, a gut feeling. Well, Steph called, and that part of my gut 'twinged' as I heard her. She sounded kind of stuffy, and...off.

Well, to the beginning. Tonight we're supposed to do a distraction to get a guy named Thomas White. He was arrested for picking up hookers, so, what we do is send in Stpeh with a bit of makeup, short dress and heals, shows a bit of cleavage, and gets him to follow her out. When he does leave the building, Stpeh gets out of the way, and Hal nad Junior will cuff him. Tank has the vehicle ready, and they take him back. I bring home Steph. All is done.

She's always so great at getting them out, then goes home fine. But, what worries me, is her calling earlier. She called to say that she wasn't going to be able to do the gig tonight. I asked if she was okay, and she said that she was fine, but she had to go.

So, I followed up the next day, and checked in with Connie and Lula, about weather they'd seen her. They both said different things. Lula said she was at lunch, and Connie sayd she was out getting her second skip. Considering it was nine in the morning and Steph doesn't like mornings, it's highly unlikely that she's out to LUNCH, or getting her sec ond skip. That would mean getting up earlier. Not something she'd do.

So, I thanked them, and left, shaking my head.

That brings you about up to date. I had gotten to her door and was slipping the lock. Once in, I shut the door, and replaced the locks. There was the faint sound of music coming from her room, but her door was shut and I couldn't see in. The light was off.

I quietly opened the door, and slipped in. Steph was face-down on the bed, wearing what looked like a sports bra, and boxers. She had a thin white sheet covering her lower half, only partialy though, because I could clearly see her legs.

I stood there for a minute, just watching her sleep, her breath even, when she suddenly lifted herself up on her elbows, and started coughing. Rally badly, like the kinds that hurt all the wayn in your lungs and the back of your throat. When she stopped, she dropped back down, and grabbed at a water ottle that had been placed on the nightstand. She chugged the rest of it, and tossed it on the floor. It landed with a soft thump, ontop of a pile of tissues that coated the floor like a blanket.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Her alarm blared on loudly, filling the room with aqn annoying sound. Her arm shot out, and slapped the top of it, officiently shutting it off. Then she groaned and rolled out of bed. She snatched her water off the floor, and shuffled into the bedroom. She filled the water bottle, then opened the cabinet above the sink, and pulled out a thermomiter, and Tylenol. She took two pills, then stuck the stick in her mouth. I countinued to watch. When it beeped, she pulled it out, glanced at it, then sighed and tossed both things back into the cabinet. With that, she grabbed her water bottle, and shuffled back out to the bed, and flopped down on her somach.

"Steph?" I asked quietly, trying not to scare her.

"Hmmm?" She mumbled, then couched a little.

"You okay?"

"Mmmm. When'd you get here?"

"A couple minutes ago. How are you?"

"Shit." She replied.

"What?"

"Shit. I'm shit."

"Are you sick?"

"What gave it away?" She said in a half sarcastic way.

"Babe. Other than just sick, how sick?"

"Mono and the flu. Hence, shit."

I cringed. I had mono in sixth grade. I missed six weeks of school. Oh, but with the flu, that really sucks.

I walked over and sat on the side of the bed, and started rubbing her back. She was really tense and she felt like she had a bit of a fever. "Mmmmmm." She mumbled again. I used my thumbs to rubb hard circles by her spine, electing more moans.

As suddenly as an alarm clock goes off, she stiffened again, and rolled away, getting out of bed. "Babe? What are you doing?"

She ignored me and stumbled into the bathroom. I got up and followed. When I got to the door way, she had stripped off the rest of her clothes and was stepping into the shower. She turned the knobs on, and by the look of it, it was cold. She turned it a tad warmer, but it still would of been quite cold.

"What are you doing babe?" I asked again.

"Keeping my temperature down." She replied. "I have to, otherwise it's not safe." Her voice lowered to almost a whisper. "It's not even safe get get a cold."

"Why do you have to get your temperature down Steph?"

"Fever seizures." She mumbled, then sighed. She had pulled the curtain shut, so I could only see her figure standing below the spray. She shut the spray off sometime later, and grabbed a towel from the rack.

Five minutes later, she was dressed, and was coming out of the bathroom, to where I had relocated -onto the bed- while she got dressed.

She as back in a sorts bra and boyshorts, and she had pulled her hair into a messy bun on her head. She came over to where I was, and flopped down face first onto the bed. She started sliding u farther, but I caught her, and pulled her back down, sitting her on my lap. "What is a fever seizure?" I asked, looking her dead in the eye.

"Well, a seizure you get when your temperature spikes."

"Are they dangerous to your health?"

"I don't know, all I know, is that ever since I was a kid, I had to avoid getting sick. I never remember the seizures, I'm just really disoriented. I've only been told what I look like and what happens." She said on a shrug.

"What can I do to help?"

"Don't let my temperature spike. And if it does and I start seizing, get to an open space where I wont hit anything. Don't make the mistake of trying to hold me down. _I _would get hurt almost as bad as _you_ would."

I nodded. I could do that.

She nodded back, then flashed me a weak smile, that turned into a yawn. "Now...I'm going to go back to sleep, because I feel like I've been up for 36 hours, not ten minutes." With that, she started crawling off my lap and onto the bed. She dropped onto the pillow, wrapping her arm around it and burrying her face into it. I smiled. Sounded like Mono all right.

The next time her alarm went off, I was sitting in a chair by the bed watching her in silence, and the blair of it startled me. Once again, her arm shot out and she got up, doing the same thing as she had done last time. The clock said that it had been close to four hours since she had been up. This time, after checking her temperature and returning the bottle of water to the stand, she headed to the kitchen, and flung open the fridge mumbling something about food. Shockingly enough, instead of grabbing ice cream or eating two day old pizza, she grabbed the american cheese slices, and then a package of crackers in a cabinet over the stove. With both of them, she headed back into the bedroom.

I followed her back, still not making much noise I'm pretty sure that she knew I was there, but I could be wrong...

She sat on the bed and scooted up so that she was resting against the headboard, sraightened out her legs, and placed each iteam on them. She opened the cheese and started folding them into forths, causing them to rip. Then she opened the crackers, put on slice of cheese on one cracker, and made bit into it. With one in her mouth, and her hands free, she made another, then looked up and held it in front of me with what looked like an attempt at raised eye brows. I smiled slightly and ate it.

She knew I was here.

-------------------

**Okay, so this is only part one. It's not going to be too long, but I've broken it into two-four peices. :)**

**P.S. I had Mono+Flu in January (through my birthday) and it sucked. I was up for less than ten minutes and already tired again. At night I was sleeping for close to 16 hours, and up for only 8. Kinda vise versa. :) I started this a while ago when I was sick, this is more of a time passer. I'll try and update soon. :):)**

**Peanut16**


End file.
